Hands...

Over the weekend, we met up with (most of) our small group from church to work on our service project.  We do one at the end of every semester.  This time, we tie-dyed shirts for the young boys at an orphanage in Ethiopia that our church sponsors.  Another group made pillowcase dresses for the little girls.  

I love our church for many reasons.  It has strengthened our faith through sermon 

worship,it has brought us to our amazing circle of friends that prays and plays with us, and it has given us such a heart for service by opening up so many avenues to serve in our community, and now around the world!

I'm not the best Christian.  Sometimes my heart and mind swim in doubt and self-pity.  There are a lot of times I find myself judging others and myself.  I worry too much about things I have, or don't have.  I compare myself to my neighbors. 

Finding this community of precious friends to offer their hands for support and prayer, they help me be a better Christian.  They remind me how connected we are to one another.  They open my heart to Jesus by watching them serve and love without boundaries.  They continue to leave an impression of God's love in my life.

I love that our children are a part of this.  Emma gets to watch this friendship and love and service.  We get to live by example of God's love.  She, and all of our children, watch us serve, pray, worship, behave imperfectly, and fail, and then be re-strengthened by His love. None of us are perfect, but we help hold each other to that bar of where we want to be, when we feel our hands are losing grasp.

My hands are still dyed in tints of black and purple in the creases and around the nails.  I kind of like having a reminder each time I look down of the way He is using our hands!